A Different Place
by Phoenix-Fire Power
Summary: Ling and Edward switch places. Edward is looking for the Philosophers Stone in Xing in order to achieve immortality but for what reasons? Winry and Ran Fan switch places. And who is the other guard along side Winry? Canon pairings or what we believe.
1. Chapter 1

-1**A/N: ****hi people!**

**Ok this story is about Edwards and Ling's places being switched. Kinda. The setting is in Xing and Edward is the illegal immigrant. I also had to add that Ling also has automail, might get more into that into the next chapter. I don't really know how long this story is going to be, and Mei, who is his sister, is the soul bound in a suit of armor. And Edward is researching the Philosophers Stone in Xing, kinda makes sense since the alchemy in Xing is medical right?**

**Ok here are the character changes:**

**Ling-Edward**

**Mei-Alphonse**

**Ran Fan-Winry**

**Fu-Pinako (yeah I laughed too)**

**Oh and one more thing. I also switched the costumes of the Amestris military with what Fu and Ran Fan were wearing when they were Lings guards, the cool ninja outfits because I can so imagine Winry wearing that.**

**Disclaimer: ****I own nothing.**

Ling walked through the town of Tosshin Tani [the Japanese equivalent of Rush Valley, I tried to get the defiant translation of it but I think I failed. Feel free to correct me.] While drinking from a glass of orange soda.

"Are you okay big brother?" Lings little sister Mei asked, her young voice echoing from inside the armor.

Ling sighed heavily. "There's nothing out here but automail shops. Not a single library or even a bookstore. If it wasn't for the fact that I needed my arm fixed" he said lifting up said arm "Then we wouldn't be here.".

Ling noticed that Mei wasn't listening to him or even standing next to him anymore. Looking over he saw her crouching near an alley. She had a habit of picking up stray animals.

Ling sighed. "Did you find a stray animal again Mei?" he asked.

"Yup" Mei agreed lifting and depositing a long blonde haired unconscious boy in front of him.

"Is he dead?" Ling asked poking him with the toe of his shoe.

"Just unconscious I think" Mei asked squatting down to look at the boys, not that you could tell much since he was on his back.

Standing up Ling looked at Mei and said "Put him back where you found him sis."

"But-but he needs help" Mei stammered.

Before Ling could say anything they were interrupted from groaning from the boy on the ground. Both Ling and Mei looked at him in unison then at each other. Ling sighed heavily.

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"Oh man thanks for the meal, I was starving!" the boy said grinning widely.

From here they could see that he was short, golden haired, even though it seemed more blonde because of the dust, dirt and sand in it, and golden eyed, he also had a habit of grinning so widely that couldn't help but make them grin as well. And despite the hot weather he was wearing black leather clothing.

"Um I never said anything about treating you" Ling said, but he also said it so quietly that the boy could pretend he didn't hear it.

The boy ran his fingers through his hair, which caused sand to fall to the floor. He pulled off his gloves and they saw that he had an automail right arm [ok I know that I switched them but Edward is not Edward without the automail for me so just pretend.].

Ling blinked in surprise. "You have automail. So do I" he said lifting back his sleeve to show it.

The boy blinked and then grinned. "That's great. You can introduce me to a good mechanic then. I'm kinda worried that some sand might've gotten in my arm and damaged it." he said looking at both of theirs arms.

"Sand? Where exactly did you go?" Mei asked curiosity laced through her voice. "Where are you from anyway, your voice has an accent.".

"Me? Oh I come from Amestris" he said ignoring how Ling and Mei exclaimed "From Amestris!".

"How did you get here?"

"Through the desert of course" he said happily [incase you guys are going to say something about Edward being out of character he is trying to play the nice and kinda slow guy to gain their trust…and to make Ling forget about the bill for the food.].

Lings and Mei's faces fell. "Through the desert? Was it hard?" Mei asked.

The boy laughed. "Hard is an understatement my friend. The desert was brutal!". He picked up a stick that was laying on the ground and drew a circle on the ground. He labeled one circle Xing and a different circle with some space between them Amestris and connected the both of them with two lines. "The road was completely buried by sand so it was hard to know if I was going the right direction" he said while drawing the lines.

"But why did you come from the desert" Ling asked.

The boy looked up at them and said "Because I wanted to see the Jomon [real ancient civilization in Japan] Ruins for myself.".

Ling frowned and placed his arm on his knee and his balanced his chin in his palm "Jomon? I heard there was nothing there. Just a legend that it was destroyed in one night.".

"Were you just going there to do sight seeing?" Mei asked.

"No I just wanted to research something there. I wanted to find out about the alchemy in this country.".

"Alchemy?" asked Ling and Mei.

"Oh right" the boy exclaimed "In this country it is called rentanjutsu. In my country" he said, placing his hand on his chest, "It is called Alchemy and the military uses it for its purposes. Isn't it a medical science here?" he asked.

"Yeah it is mostly a medical practice but your country uses it for war?" Ling asked, he couldn't really see the rentanjutsu used for war or hurting anyone.

The boy nodded. "Yeah. We have a specialized group in the military called the state alchemists and their specialty as you can probably guess is alchemy. They use it to win all the wars that our country is going through" he gave a sad smile towards the circles on the ground that showed the two countries. "It is a most effective way but so many people are killed from it.".

"I hate it admit but I am curious about your rentanjutsu. It sounds completely different from ours" Ling said looking at the boy.

"Are you two alchemists?" the boy asked.

"No we aren't" Ling admitted. "But I'm interested in this 'alchemy' what about you sis?" Ling asked looking up at Mei.

"Does sounds rather odd. And I know a bit about rentanjutsu" she added.

The boy sat up straighter in his chair and grinned at Mei. "So you're like a beginner alchemist. I'm one of those State Alchemists. Though I've never killed anyone" he said quickly seeing the look on Lings face. "I just became one to have access to secret documents to learn more" he finished. "I'm Edward Elric by the way. The Fullmetal Alchemist" he added.

"Oh right we haven't introduced ourselves" Mei exclaimed.

Ling placed his hand on his chest and said "I'm Ling Yao and this is my younger sister Mei.".

"Younger sister?" Edward asked as he looked up at Mei.

She laughed. "It's because of this armor I seem so big.".

Interestingly Edward didn't press the subject or ask why she was in the armor in the first place like most people.

"So can you tell me more about alchemy Edward?" Mei asked.

Edward grinned once more. "Well the first law in alchemy is Equivalent Exchange" he said wagging one finger. "In order to obtain something of equal value must be lost. So if you want me to tell you about alchemy you have to tell me something about what I want to know" he bargained, his head lowered slightly and there seemed to be a shadow in his eyes along with a weird look in them.

"Well what do you want to know?" Ling asked.

Edward placed his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. He stared off into a different direction as he said "Well I've been looking for something for quite a while and I think I can find it here. Trouble is I don't know where to look or who to ask" he concluded as his gaze slid over to the siblings.

Ling got a creeping feeling as Edwards eyes looked at him. The funny and smiling guy they first met seemed to be slipping away and leaving this guy in its place.

"What are you looking for exactly" Ling said carefully.

Edward smirked. "Its something called. The Philosophers Stone." his smirk seemed to widen as both Ling and Mei froze at hearing the familiar name. "I'm looking for it because I need it really badly.".

The look in Edwards's eyes was similar to a tiger laughing at its prey.

"Do you know anything about it" he asked. _'I know you do'_ his eyes said.

"Sorry we don't know anything about that" Ling said curtly before getting up. "Now if you'll excuse us we have to go".

"Wait a moment" Edward said before snapping his fingers.

All of a sudden, somehow they had managed to hide themselves from Ling senses, two people were behind him and Mei. The taller one had a dagger at his neck and the shorter one had a long sword in one of Mei's holes in the armor. A quick glance from the corner of his eyes showed that both of the people were wearing black clothes that looked sturdy and comfortable to fight in and were wearing masks to cover their faces.

"It seems like you two know more than you are letting on. Can you tell me about it" he said smugly.

Lings eyes opened [get it? Lings eyes are always closed, except for those rare times in the manga or when he was Greed, Ed's eyes narrowed and for Ling his eyes open. Please do not take that as a racist comment and if you do then I sincerely apologize.] "And what exactly do you want with the Philosophers Stone?" he asked.

Edward did a combination of a smirk and a grin. "So I can become immortal." he said.

**That seems like a good place to leave it.**

**Ok I hope you guys liked it and I hope that I didn't screw it up that bad.**

**Whatever your thoughts are leave them in a review!**

**This is Phoenix-Fire Power over and out.**


	2. Chapter 2

-1**A/N: ****hey people!**

**Well there isn't that much to say so on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: ****I own nothing.**

Last time on 'A Different Place':

_Ling's eyes opened "And what exactly do you want with the Philosophers Stone." he asked._

_Edward did a combination of a smirk and a grin. "So I can become immortal." he said. _

"Immortality huh?" Ling said carefully measuring the two new comers in his mind.

"Come to think about it there were some other guys asking that some time ago." Mei said carefully.

"Is it the new style?" Ling asked rhetorically. "Why are you searching for that?" he asked.

"Personal reasons" Edward replied.

"How stupid" Ling said his eyes glancing to the side.

Edward smiled slightly "I'm being serious." he said.

"And this is your idea of asking people for help? Interrogating them at knife point?" Ling asked motioning with his head to the strangers that still held the dagger to his throat and a sword in Mei's armor.

"I don't think so!" he said swinging his left arm backwards and with his right hand reaching for the dagger.

"Brother don't fight!" Mei cried out looking at him.

The man [sexist] however jumped into the air and did a flip that somehow ended with him kicking Ling in the face.

"You arrogant child!" the other person said. Judging from their voice they sounded female and a bit old. "Show some respect to a member of the Amestris military!".

"You shouldn't point swords at people." Mei said grabbing the sword with her hand.

The woman snapped her hand back and said "So you wish to fight as well?".

"Wait one mom-" Mei was cut off as she reached towards the lady who in turn flipped around her arm, grabbed it, and pinned her to the ground next to her brother.

"Oh man they move like acrobatics. Must be the fighting style from Amestris" Ling said.

"But one thing is certain brother. They are not tougher then teacher" Mei said getting up.

The lady and the boy ran towards them.

Edward blocked his eyes from the sunlight as he watched another part of the town blow up. "Man, those two sure are hot headed." he said to no one.

He turned to the waiter and said "Excuse me can I please get one more of your desserts? Just put it on the siblings tab.".

Ling jumped slightly off a pipeline and drew his sword and proceeded to attack the other boy.

The boy however was fast enough to dodge every attempt and seemed to have hidden armor in her suit so that when he did connect with him there seemed to be no damage.

The next time his sword thrust forward he grabbed with in his hands and twisted it so that it became loose and caused him to drop it.

Aggravated slightly he punched forward with his left arm.

However when he almost hit him the other boy wrapped his own arm around his and proceed to bend it.

'_Oh no.' _Ling realized. _'He's going to break it'. _Thinking fast he flipped onto his back and with his foot pushed the other guy off.

They both straitened up but the other immediately got into position to fight once more…yet he didn't make a single move towards him. He seemed to be waiting for Ling to move first.

'_So he's not trying to take my life and is only attacking when I am. And the way he moves. How am I supposed to fight him?' _Ling thought to himself.

"Coming out of nowhere and demanding information about the Philosophers Stone and immortality. Seriously what is that guy thinking?" Ling asked the other boy.

The boy didn't answer but he did start slightly.

"Yeah that guy back there. That loose and stupid one." Ling continued. "What is he thinking" Ling asked.

The other boys eyes seemed to narrow and before Ling could do anything he was in front of him with his two fingers pointing at him, next thing he had somehow pushed him around his eyes with enough force to throw him back. However Ling also managed to throw a kick at him and then pin him to the ground.

"Looks like I just found your weakness" Ling said smugly.

The other boy didn't say anything but stare at him.

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Mei was thrown upside down into a warehouse. "I hate fighting. And she is moving so fast I can barely keep up" she said to herself.

Hers and hers brothers friend Usagi [ok in one translation Paninya's name was Bunny so to make it less difficult for myself I followed that. And if the name Usagi sounds familiar its Sailor Moons real name in Japanese.] Jumped in from the hole in the roof and landed lightly beside Mei "I was told to fix that roof of this place. What are you doing Mei" Usagi asked.

"It's a long story" Mei answered.

They both got up and as soon as that the lady came through a couple boxes and rushed towards them as they both ran.

"I think I get it now" Usagi said looking behind them.

"Good saves me the time to explain" Mei said. She looked at the other girl and asked "Hey Usagi can I ask you for a favor?".

'_How strange' _Pinako thought to herself. _'That suit of armor is strangely like…'._

"It's gonna cost ya Mei" Usagi said.

"Just put it on our tab" she answered lightly.

"Kay" Usagi said as they both turned around. She balanced one leg behind her on a fire hydrant.

"You think that one alley will increase your chances of winning?" Pinako yelled at them.

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Ling punched the other guy in the ribs with his elbow and heard a satisfying crack.

The other boy stumbled slightly and dropped the dagger he was holding.

"Your not so tough at all are you?" Ling asked looking as he the boy hugged his arm around his rib cage. "To have a subordinate like this I guess that Blondie isn't that big of a deal himself" Ling taunted.

The other boy cracked his knuckles and proceeded to rush at him and attack.

'_At first this guy fought like a skilled warrior' _Ling thought to himself as he blocked another kick _'But then he gets all hot headed when I insult Edward. And then his attacks become more predictable. And opening is made.' _. From the corner of his eyes he could see his sword laying there a few feet to the side. Ling smirked. "What? Mad because I said the truth? This guy should just pack himself up and go straight home since he isn't man enough to fight his own fights" the boy growled slightly and punched forward. Ling ducked and grabbed his sword. "Let's have a look at your face now shall we?" and from many practices he swung deep enough to cut the strings from the mask but not harm the person.

At the same time that the mask fell off the boy threw forward another dagger, which thankfully hit his automail arm, and shielded his…no her face. Her!?!

"A girl" Ling cried in surprise as the dagger fell into his arm, through the bandages.

Before he could react the girl had grabbed something from her belt and whipped out the string from it and threw it at him.

In front of Ling's stricken face was a bomb.

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Usagi lifted up her pant leg to reveal a hole in her automail leg. In front of Pinako's surprised face was a bomb.

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The civilians of Tosshin Tani all shook in surprise and some yelled slightly when two different parts of their home town were shaken and two small dust clouds formed and rose into the sky.

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Pinako flipped in the air and landed lightly on a sign that proclaimed 'Tosshin Tani' and balanced on it with one hand on top of the sign.

'_She had a bomb hidden in her automail leg. That seems like a good idea but how did she manage to do it?' _Pinako wondered to herself, something however caught her attention.

The ground that Mei was standing on was rising with her on it. Once she was up to level with the older woman she quickly pinned her to the sign and swiftly drew another transmutation on the sign and activated it causing ropes to erupt from it and tie themselves around the lady.

The lady struggled. "Is this how your country treats your elders" she asked struggling against the bindings.

"Elderly" Mei asked. She reached out and gently unhooked the mask that covered the ladies face.

The mask had hidden her age from everyone. If Mei was to guess she would have said that the woman was in her twenties, thirties the latest, seeing the way she moved around.

The woman really was short, her hair was pinned up in a ponytail that seemed to defy gravity, and if she stood up then Mei doubted that she would even come up to Ling's waist. She also seemed as old as hers and Ling's grandfather, who was pushing seventy.

Her thoughts went back to her brother. She turned around slowly on the ground she had raised and said to herself "I wonder how brother is?".

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Winry walked over the crumbled remains of a building covering her mouth with her hand from all the dust in the air.

'_I definitely overdid it.' _she thought to herself. She noticed a metal hand peeking from the ground. The boy had automail, like Edward. She reached down to grab the arm and pull the boy out of the rubble. _'Oh man. After all the times I tell Edward to not be so hot headed I go and do this. I really am a hypocrite'. _

She grasped the arm and pulled. To her surprise all that came up was the arm, all of a sudden, in a blur, Ling came from behind rocks and quickly tied her up in ropes before she could react.

"You know you shouldn't play with bombs little girl" he said as he stooped forward and picked his arm up and looked at her "If that was someone else they would have gotten really hurt" he concluded.

"You gave up your own arm?" Winry asked looking at the remains of his right arm.

"An automail that doesn't move is just deadweight. I cut it off and used it as bait. I always have extra rope with me incase of something, well I never thought something like this would happen but just incase." he concluded.

"So what do I do now" Ling asked himself looking down at Winry.

"Give…give me my mask back" she said blushing slightly.

"Hm?" Ling said.

"I'm telling you…you to give me back the mask you broke" she stammered the blush highlighting her face. It was obvious that she had never lost in a fight. Her blue eyes were wide and had a shiver of fear in them.

"You know that you are not really in any position to be giving commands here you know?" Ling told her.

"Brother" Ling heard Mei's voice call out. Looking behind him he saw Mei walking to him along as Usagi and a…old lady tied up on his shoulder.

"Your arm is messed up again brother. Ran Fan isn't going to be happy about that." she said noticing his arm as she deposited the old lady on the ground next to Winry.

Ling sighed. "I don't think my body can keep up with everything we're going through." he said looking at his arm. Then he looked over to the girls in black.

"So tell us. Why is Edward looking for the Philosophers Stone and immortality?" Ling asked the two girls who turned their heads to the side to ignore them.

"Hello there!" a voice came from behind them. Whirling around Ling and Mei saw Edward walking towards them, and judging by the large grin on his face he was once more smiling nice guy.

"Where did you come from" Mei asked him. What Ling wanted to ask them was how they hid themselves from his sense.

"I'm sorry about that you two" he said motioning to the girls behind him. A mad look crossed the younger girls face for a moment until Edward said "They usually aren't as hot headed as you saw. You must have really rifled them up.".

"If that's an apology then that's the worst one I have ever heard" Ling said.

"I never said I or they would apologize." Edward said blinking his eyes.

"Just go back to your own country already then" Ling said.

Edward stretched his arms over his head and then crossed them behind his head "Well I can't go back until I finish my goal and that didn't happen yet.".

All of a sudden a crowd appeared behind them. All sorts of people were complaining about the damage they had caused and the waiter of the restaurant they were at was asking for them to pay for the bill.

"Wait a minute its these guys who are responsible for all that" Ling said motioning to Edward and his subordinates.

Edward jumped from where he was standing away while saying "I no speak this language", flipped on some rocks and disappeared.

Mei turned around and exclaimed "Those two girls in black are gone too!".

Ling turned around. True to her word the ropes were on the ground and empty.

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"I'm sorry Ed, I couldn't really focus once he started saying those things about you" Winry said blushing.

Edward smiled slightly as he looked at her "It's ok Win. The fact that we met them means we accomplished something today.".

Pinako looked at Edward as she slid her pipe from her pocket, put some tobacco in it, lit it, and put it in her mouth and said "Did you notice that Edward? The younger girl? She was in a suit of armor which was empty just like-"

"I know granny" Edward cut her off.

Pinako fell silent as Edward looked into the sky thinking.

"The older one and maybe his sister definitely know something" Edward said.

"About the Stone and gaining immortality?" Winry asked.

"Maybe" Edward replied licking his upper lip in thought.

"We should follow them. It seems like the best method as of now." Edward said.

"You would actually bow down to them and play that idiot?" Winry asked skeptically.

"If it means gaining the information I need then yes." Edward answered. "However if they do not give me anything we will take it by force." he said getting up.

Pinako put out her pipe and obediently stood up.

"Ed?" Winry said.

Edward glanced over at her and asked "Yeah?".

Rubbing the back of head slightly she mumbled "That boy destroyed my mask and…" before she could finish her sentence Edward clapped his hands and placed them on the ground. When he stood up he held an identical mask to what she wore before.

She smiled at him before carefully placing her hair back and slipping the mask on.

"Let's go" he said as he started to walk. Pinako and Winry followed behind him loyally.

**In the manga Ling asked Edward and Alphonse if they would want to become his subordinates after they had captured Fu and Ran Fan. The reason I didn't have Edward do that is to show the loyalty that Edward feels towards them.**

**Ok I can't think of anything to say right now so just review I guess.**

**Until next time. This is Phoenix-Fire Power over and out.**


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